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[*] 747. The verbs which take the ordinary object infinitive are in general the same in Greek as in English. Any verb whose action directly implies another action or state as its object, if this object is to be expressed by a verb and not by a noun, may take the infinitive. Such are verbs signifying to wish, ask, advise, entreat, exhort, command, persuade, compel, teach, learn, accustom, cause, intend, begin, attempt, effect, permit, decide, dare, prefer, choose; those expressing willingness, unwillingness, eagerness, caution, neglect, danger, postponement, forbidding, hindrance, escape, etc.; and all implying ability, fitness, desert, qualification, sufficiency, necessity, or their opposites. E.g. Διδάσκουσιν αὐτὸν βάλλειν, they teach him to shoot. Ἔμαθον τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, they learned to do this. Βούλεται ἐλθεῖν. Παραινοῦμέν σοι πείθεσθαι. Αἱροῦνται πολεμεῖν. Ἡ πόλις κινδυνεύει διαφθαρῆναι, the city is in danger of being destroyed. Δύναται ἀπελθεῖν. Τοῖς ξυμμάχοις ἔφραζον ἰέναι ἐς τὸν Ἰσθμόν, “they told the allies to go to the Isthmus.” THUC. iii. 15. Δέομαι ὑμῶν συγγνώμην μοι ἔχειν. Εἶπε στρατηγοὺς ἑλέσθαι, he proposed to choose generals. Ἀπαγορεύουσιν αὐτοῖς μὴ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, they forbid them to do this (815, THUC. 1). Τί κωλύσει αὐτὸν βαδίζειν ὅποι βούλεται; what will prevent him from marching whither he pleases? Ἀξιῶ λαμβάνειν τοῦτο, I claim the right to take this. Ἀξιοῦται θανεῖν, he is thought to deserve death. Οὐ πέφυκε δουλεύειν, he is not born to be a slave. Ἀναβάλλεται τοῦτο ποιεῖν, he postpones doing this. Λαοὺς δ᾽ Ἀτρεΐδης ἀπολυμαίνεσθαι ἄνωγεν, “and the son of Atreus ordered the hosts to purify themselves.” Il. i. 313. Βούλομ᾽ ἐγὼ λαὸν σόον ἔμμεναι ἢ ἀπολέσθαι, I wish that the people may be safe, rather than that they perish. Il. i. 117. Ἔπειθεν αὐτὸν πορεύεσθαι. XEN. An. vi. 2, 13. Ἔδοξε πλεῖν τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην, “it was decided that Alcibiades should sail.” THUC. vi. 29. Φυλακὴν εἶχε μήτ᾽ ἐκπλεῖν μηδένα μήτ᾽ ἐσπλεῖν, he kept guard against any one's sailing out or in (815, THUC. 1). Id. ii. 69. “Τί δῆτα μέλλεις μὴ οὐ γεγωνίσκειν τὸ πᾶν;” “why do you hesitate to speak out the whole?” AESCH. Prom. 627 . This use of the infinitive is too familiar to need more illustration. The tenses commonly used are the present and aorist (87), for examples of which see 96; for the perfect see 109 and 110; for the exceptional future see 113; and for the infinitive with ἄν (seldom used in this construction) see 211. For μή and μὴ οὐ with the infinitive (as used above) see 815-817.
Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Toronto. 1889. reprint edition:. St. Martin's Press. New York. 1965.
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